So my fiance and I live in Houston but we're planning a wedding back in his hometown of Kilgore in March of 2009. I've been searching high and freaking low on the internet for venues in the Kilgore/Tyler/Longview/Henderson area (or something similar) and am having little luck. Everything is very run of the mill country club which is not our style.

My dreams: outdoor (garden or gazebo or lots of trees or a pond/lake/body of water), fun, relaxed, etc...

Any ideas? Any leads? Anything pretty in the area that I can at least investigate further?

Okay, so here's the scoop. Got a new boy. He's not *quite* my boyfriend yet, but it's definitely headed down that road. We're just taking things slow so as not to mess up.

His birthday is July 21- I'm giving myself plenty of time to figure out something awesome. He's definitely into home-made-with-love kinda stuff, so I want that to be the bulk of it.

Okay, my boy - - Will be 31. - Shaves his head- 10 tattoos- Home brews beer- reads a ton - is a geek - likes metal and indie rock - has a pug named Sweetpea (how adorable is that!?)- Our first "date" was to hang out and shoot pool- Our second was a picnic in the park

Ideas fo far - - I promised to knit him a hat. I really want to knit him one of the R2D2 beanies from the pattern on here but I'm scared of color working. Maybe I'll just knit him a simple beanie in some really nice yarn. - Picture frame w/ beer caps - I know a bartender who can probably get me tons. - something for Sweetpea. Maybe a new collar or lead and tags. Or a doggie sweater to match Daddy's hat. - the new Harry Potter comes out ON his birthday. If I can manage to get it, i'll get that - plus a bookmark and decorative bookplate.

Digging through my gramma's stash, I found a bunch of this vintage barkcloth. The story is that it's what was left over from making cushions for patio furniture from when my mom was about 5 or 6.

So I made a very simple, but gigantic tote out of it. Nice long straps to go over the shoulder, faux tortoise shell button with loop to close, lined with a buttery lemon denim. One big pocket, another divided into 3 smaller compartments.

Ignore the crooked topstiching. Here you can see how gigantic the bag is. That's two full size 1-subject spirals, with tons of room leftover. Zippered thing in the big pocket is the totally awesome globe pencil case Dewey made for me in the Office Supply swap. (Check the gallery!)

I have one of those ginormous black rolling suitcase type scrapbooking totes - the ones that cost like $100 at Michaels and Hobby Lobby. It's almost 2 years old, but it's never actually been rolled anywhere and been sitting in a closet, so it's almost brand new. No damage, no wear and tear, probably a little residual dog hair, but no smoke.

Willing to trade it for fabric or ribbon or yarn or whatever. I just would like to see it go to a good home and someone who'll actually use it.